2.3: Additional Suffixes

Suffixes are used in several other medical terms that do not fit the previous categories discussed. This page will review several suffixes and provide examples of terms. Note that there are a few suffixes that are very close in spelling but have slightly different meanings. It is important to be aware of these differences.

Table 2.23. Suffixes

Suffix	MEANING	EXAMPLE OF USE IN A MEDICAL TERM
-crine	secretion	endocrine
-cyte	cell	thrombocyte
-globin	protein	hemoglobin

Figure 2.34

Figure 2.35

Key Concept

As discussed in Chapter 1, there are different types of cells in the human body. Figure 2.34 provides a review of the three most common cell types: erythrocyte, leukocyte, and thrombocyte. Note that all the cell names end with the suffix -cyte, meaning “cell,” and begin with a combining form that indicates the type of cell.

The term hemoglobin means “protein (-globin) in the blood (hem/o).” Hemoglobin is the part of the red blood cell that carries oxygen throughout the body and transports carbon dioxide back to the lungs (Mayo Clinic, 2022). Figure 2.35 is an image of the complex hemoglobin cell structure. If you have low hemoglobin, you would be diagnosed with anemia. Various types of anemia were discussed in Chapter 1.

Table 2.24. Suffixes

Suffix	MEANING	EXAMPLE OF USE IN A MEDICAL TERM
-gen	substance or agent that produces or causes	antigen
-genic	producing, originating, causing	carcinogenic

Figure 2.36

Figure 2.37

Key Concept

The term antigen literally means “to produce against.” Some examples of antigens are bacteria, viruses, and fungi. When an antigen enters the body, the immune system responds by producing antibodies to fight the antigen.

There are various ways to detect antigens in the body. An example is the rapid test for COVID-19 (Figure 2.37), which is used to detect the presence of certain proteins on the COVID-19 virus found in a sample of bodily fluid.

Table 2.25. Suffixes

Suffix	MEANING	EXAMPLE OF USE IN A MEDICAL TERM
-plasia	formation (condition)	hyperplasia
-plasm	formation (tissue)	neoplasm

Figure 2.38

Key Concept

Figure 2.38 provides a comparison of a normal prostate and an enlarged prostate. When the prostate becomes enlarged and is non-cancerous, the individual is diagnosed with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Hyperplasia means “formation (-plasia) that is excessive (hyper-).”

Figure 2.41 below shows examples of several cell types, including hyperplasia. A physician may first treat BPH with medication, but if that does not work, they might perform a surgical procedure called a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) (WebMD, 2020).

Table 2.26. Suffixes

Suffix	MEANING	EXAMPLE OF USE IN A MEDICAL TERM
-iatrist	specialist	psychiatrist
-iatry	specialty, treatment	psychiatry
-logist	specialist who studies or treats	psychologist
-logy	study of	psychology

Figure 2.40

Figure 2.39

Key Concept

It is important to note that all the suffixes in Table 2.26 (-iatrist, -iatry, -logist, -logy) are very similar but have slightly different meanings. The context determines which suffix is used in a medical term. For example, nephrology means “the study of the kidneys,” whereas a nephrologist is a specialist who treats kidney disease. In fig. 2.39 and 2.40 there are different specialists at work in clinical and laboratory settings.

Table 2.27. Examples of -logy

MEDICAL TERM	MEANING
cardiology	study of the heart
dermatology	study of the skin
endocrinology	study of the endocrine system and hormones
gastroenterology	study of the stomach and intestines
gynecology	study of women
hematology	study of blood
immunology	study of immunity
neurology	study of nerves
oncology	study of tumours
ophthalmology	study of the eye
pathology	study of disease
pharmacology	study of medication
proctology	study of the anus and rectum
psychology	study of the mind
pulmonology	study of the lungs
radiology	study of X-rays
rheumatology	study of disease of the joints
urology	study of the urinary tract

Table 2.28. Suffixes

Suffix	MEANING	EXAMPLE OF USE IN A MEDICAL TERM
-thesis	to put, to place	prosthesis
-trophy	nourishment, development	atrophy
-al, -eal, -ar, -ary, -ic, -ior, -tic	pertaining to	renal, esophageal, vascular, pulmonary, pelvic, anterior, antibiotic

Figure 2.41

Key Concept

There are a number of changes that cells can undergo, and Figure 2.41 illustrates several of these using the suffixes -trophy (“nourishment” or “development”) and -plasia (“formation”).

• atrophy: No development; for example, when a cast is removed and the affected limb has decreased in size
• dysplasia: Formation that is abnormal; for example, children who have abnormal hip formation such as hip dysplasia (Medical News Today, 2022)
• hyperplasia: Formation that is excessive; for example BPH, seen in Figure 2.38 (WebMD, 2020)
• hypertrophy: Development that is excessive; for example, the large muscles of a bodybuilder (Healthline, 2019).
• metaplasia: Cell formation that has changed; for example, lungs exposed to cigarette smoke may have cells that have changed shape (Giroux & Rustgi, 2017)

Exercises

Attribution

Unless otherwise indicated, material on this page has been adapted from the following resource:

Carter, K., & Rutherford, M. (2020). Building a medical terminology foundation. eCampus Ontario. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/medicalterminology/ licensed under CC BY 4.0

References

Giroux, V., & Rustgi, A. K. (2017). Metaplasia: tissue injury adaptation and a precursor to the dysplasia–cancer sequence. Nature Reviews Cancer, 17(10), 594–604. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc.2017.68

Healthline. (February 26, 2019). Muscular hypertrophy and your workout. https://www.healthline.com/health/muscular-hypertrophy#exercise-frequency

Mayo Clinic. (2022). Hemoglobin test. https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/hemoglobin-test/about/pac-20385075#:~:text=Hemoglobin%20is%20a%20protein%20in,blood%20cell%20count%20(anemia)

Medical News Today. (April 12, 2022). Everything you need to know about dysplasia. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/311902#types

National Cancer Institute. (2022). Neoplasm. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/neoplasm

WebMD. (October 30, 2020). Do I need surgery for BPH? https://www.webmd.com/men/prostate-enlargement-bph/enlarged-prostate-time-prostate-surgery#:~:text=Transurethral%20resection%20of%20the%20prostate,to%20remove%20the%20excess%20tissue

Image Credits (images are listed in order of appearance)

Diagram of three different types of blood cell CRUK 049 by Cancer Research UK, CC BY-SA 4.0

English-language Wikipedia infobox for hemoglobin by Flor WMCH, CC BY-SA 4.0

Antibody by Fvasconcellos, Public domain

Bôite test rapide Covid-19 Rapid Response TNX EN by Miguel Tremblay, CC0 1.0

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) by BruceBlaus, CC BY-SA 4.0

Professional Medical Doctor by Mona Hassan Abo-Abda, CC BY-SA 4.0

Microscope (inverted) by National Cancer Institute, Public domain

Non-neoplastic changes by DennisHansen, CC BY 3.0

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